Writing about drugs and alcohol...?

Why do you care if people frown on your MC? They'll either accept it, and read the book - or they'll get all prissy and offended, and go read something else.

I have multi-partner casual sex in my current WIP and once that's finished, I'll be moving back to an abandoned one which has multiple instances of drug use (coke and hash). If someone reads it and goes, "ZOMG! TEH HORRORZ!!!" well, they can just go read something else.

Really, you bother yourself with the story. If you stopped each WIP which ran the risk of offending someone, you'd be as well burning your pens, paper and computer, and going to live in a cave somewhere.

For the record, in my next WIP, my female MC will snort coke off her lover's six pack. And it won't be alluded to. It'll be described.

I think you should do a little research even before you just mention past casual drug use. I don't think you snort crack. I think you snort coke; you smoke crack.

I wouldn't have a problem with the kind of mention you're talking about, provided I'm interpreting you correctly.

SuzyB said:

I don't really care if I offend someone I just want to know which is the better way to describe using drugs. Do I just be completely blunt and say my MC is snorting coke and injecting unknown substance just to feel better? I was just wondering what is the right way to say describe it.

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Tell it like it is. If your character is skinning up, say they're skinning up. If they're snorting coke off a random tramp's ballbag, say that. If they're sprinkling K in their tea and drinking it while licking LSD off the back of a Penny Black, say that too.

Anything else would look like you're skirting the issue or don't know what you're talking about.

scarletpeaches said:

For the record, in my next WIP, my female MC will snort coke off her lover's six pack. And it won't be alluded to. It'll be described.

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How is he going to drink the six pack if it's covered in coke?

Ba-doom TISH!

*rimshot from seun there*

What a double act. Thank you very much. We'll be here all week.

The point is, what are you trying to say about your character during this time of her life? The tone you use to discuss those circumstances depends a lot on what you're trying to convey. If you want to show that she totally went off the rails, have her speed-balling with a group of homeless hookers every night for a week. If you want to show she was slightly misguided, have her do a few lines of coke at a frat party, have sex with a stranger and then regret it.

For first-person accounts of people using all sorts of drugs, try erowid.org.

SuzyB said:

LOL. Sorry. Yes....a little research would be great wouldn't it?

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I have a feeling your drug story is going to be problematic. Drug lit is probably best left to the professionals.

SuzyB said:

So....what is the best way to describe using drugs in a story that won't make readers frown upon my main character? AGAIN, the use is short and to the point-- I just need a few ideas about which is the better way.

THANKS!

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It's not really you're job to protect your main character from your readers. Your job is to tell her story in a compelling way that's true to her character. Writing about something isn't endorsing it. Heck, even having your character do something isn't always a sign of the character's endorsement. If you've done your job, your readers will know who the character is and how she ended up in that situation (maybe not at first, but you'll drop enough breadcrumbs that they'll figure it out)

Regarding the "how" of the description, if drug use is something you're unfamiliar with, I'd just try to find some first person accounts of drug use. Ask friends, read articles, and watch Doctor Phil.

Describe it in way that fits in with the rest of the scene/chapter. It might be something as simple as "I reached out for the crack pipe. After that, everything got real fuzzy." or it could be a blow by blow description.

I think I may have had a point in there, somewhere.

djf881 said:

I have a feeling your drug story is going to be problematic. Drug lit is probably best left to the professionals.

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*shrug* drug use does not a drug story make. She'll figure it out.

A less scrupulous person than I would suggest a more hands-on approach to one's research.

scarletpeaches said:

A less scrupulous person than I would suggest a more hands-on approach to one's research.

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Hands on approach followed by an appearance on Dr. Phil all leading up to... Oprah's book club?

SuzyB said:

Her rampage does not last long but it's enough to get her into the hospital with her stomach being pumped.

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Also, research will be important when you're looking at the treatment for an overdose or for substance abuse. They definitely won't pump your stomach after you snort a line of coke or mainline heroin. Just remember -- if it doesn't go into your stomach, they can't pump it out.

SuzyB said:

My MC just received a phone call from her....how do I want to describe him...."big brother" that he is getting married and all hell breaks loose...in her head. So...I think it is safe to say she jumps off the deep end and in her personal world the use of drugs is very easy to find. Her rampage does not last long but it's enough to get her into the hospital with her stomach being pumped.

So....what y'all saying is keep it straight and to the point otherwise no one will understand what you mean. Perfect. Thank you.

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Speaking of someone who's stomach's been pumped ( a long, long time ago)...your character would likely have taken too many pills to end up in this situation. Best.

Also, if you're conscious they don't pump your stomach. They give you an emetic.

scarletpeaches said:

Also, if you're conscious they don't pump your stomach. They give you an emetic.

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Yes they sure do give you an emetic. I can vouch for epicak (spelling?) personally (I've done that one too -- bottle of sleeping pills that time) I spent about three hours puking in the hospital. Had a great difficulty breathing for about three days after that. Oh waht a joy my younger days were...

I wouldn't write about it unless I had some pretty thorough knowledge of what a drug user experiences. If you're inaccurate in your descriptions of method, motivation, and effects you'll come off sounding...well...lame.

However, I wouldn't suggest actually doing drugs in the course of your research.

Suzy, If you like you can PM me. Sadly, I've done almost every drug they had back in the day. I could probably offer you some first-hand knowledge regarding drug-use/over-use, to further you story, if that would be helpful.

The only reason they would pump someone's stomach is an overdose of pills.

When you swallow a pill, the drug is absorbed into the bloodstream through the digestive system; I think the lining of the stomach.

They might also pump the stomach of a patient with alcohol poisoning.

The reason they would pump the stomach is to get drugs in the stomach out of the body to prevent their absorption and an overdose.

Heroin is injected directly into the bloodstream. There is nothing to pump out or vomit up. I don't know how heroin overdoses are ordinarily treated; in "Pulp Fiction," the treatment was an injection of adrenaline directly into the heart.

Cocaine, which is snorted, or crack and methamphetamine, which are smoked, are absorbed in the lungs rather than the stomach.

If you want your character to end up getting her stomach pumped, she should attempt suicide by pills.

This avoids all the difficulties you might have in trying to describe recreational drug use when you don't know anything about drugs.

You don't want to have her experiencing a reaction that is not appropriate for the drug she's taking; you don't want her using a drug that is bizarre for someone of her social position (i.e. smoking crack on the terrace of her beach house in the Hamptons).

You also have to figure out how she is going to obtain this stuff; do you know where to get heroin? If you don't, why do you think your character does?

If she takes a bunch of sleeping pills, you don't have to figure out how she got them, because they're easy to get, and you don't have to worry about the effect; she just falls asleep.